Blog Entry #4 Assessment and Clerical Resposibilities

               In the Special Needs class I was able to help a little bit with preparing for the days assignments.  The kids were going to be working on animal reports so I helped get the sheets together and stapled for the outline they would be using to add their ideas and pictures to.  There were three groups that would be working on different reports so I made sure that each child got the right report on their desk, before they got into the class room. The only other thing I helped with in preparing for the days schedule was when the teacher talked to me about what they would be doing for the day and what group she wanted me to be in charge of.
    The first day I went into the class room, the students weren't there yet. The teacher explained a little to me about how things were structured for the day and a little on the process of how the kids were placed in her class.  It is quite a process on how the kid's abilities are assessed.  If the kids were in the Special needs program the year before, they are recommended by their current teacher.  Most of the kids have the same teacher for three year.  New kids that have parents that have concerns that their kids might need special help, meet with the Special Needs teacher, a psychologist, and the principal.  They are tested on their abilities and then the teacher and psychologist make the determination on where the kids should be placed. 
             Throughout the school year, the teacher is making assessments on where each student is on the grade level that they are focusing on.  At the beginning of the new year, some of the kids can be mainstreamed into the other classes, kept in the same Special needs class for another year and some that are not progressing will be put in a different class for those that are lower functioning.

Blog post #3 Accommodations for those who are exceptional.....

    I spent half of my time in the classroom for Special needs students. Even in a classroom of children with exceptional needs, there were students at many different levels and skills.  One of the little boys was a little higher functioning than most of the other kids so different accommodations were made for him when the class was taking a test.  The teacher had to read most of the instructions on each question to the whole class but the one boy who could read and understand on his own, was allowed to go at his pace.

    All of the students have a learning disability so laws like IDEA play a big role in the classroom. I was able to talk with the teacher about some of the protocols that they have to follow when evaluating students who may need special education classes. She said that it is pretty intense and parents are encouraged and usually quite involved with the process.

   I was amazed with the teacher and her aides, things ran very smoothly and they were so amazing with the students.  The classroom was very organized and the students were very well behaved.  I think this might have a lot to do with how structured the classroom was. The kids have a routine they follow and they know what to expect every day. Even though they are at a little lower level than other kids of the same age, they are so smart and surprised me with the things they knew.  They were all so sweet and were excited to see me each day. I had a great experience in the Special needs classroom.

Blog Post #2 Working with small groups and one on one with students

I had several opportunities to work with the students one on one and in small groups.  In the first grade class I was able to take each student and have them read to me for five minutes or read at least 2 books that they had been practicing on.  The kids read very well, knew every word and read without having to keep their place with their finger. I know that parent volunteers and their teacher have been working with the kids on mastering their proficiency on their books and it shows with how well they were reading.

In the special needs class I had quite a few chances to work with the students in small groups.  One day the kids were broken up into groups of 3 by their learning abilities and I was able to play a time telling game with them.  I put the cards that had the clock faces on them, face down and then the digital time I left face up so the kids could match the digital time with the right clock hand.  I changed up the game if it seemed a little too easy and put all the cards facing down to make it more challenging.

Another day I worked with a group of for Special needs kids on their animal reports.  All of the kids had Ipads to look up information on the animal they were reporting on.  They had to find out different facts about the animal, write it in their books and draw a picture about it.  It was fun to see how excited they got to learn more about the animals.

After learning more about Segregation, I am so glad that everyone has the right to an education, no matter your color or abilities.  I think everyone deserves to be treated equally and have the right to the same education.